Harry Potter and The Staff Of Eternity
by xreaperxx8
Summary: In the wizarding world things are not always as they seem and everyone seems to have an ulterior motive. Harry is done being controlled and is going turn society on its head. Join him for the ride of his life and see who gets through the war relatively unscathed or at all. after all this is war and we all know what happens in war: people die. HPDG. Weasley bashing. character death.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: Any characters you recognize belong to JKR. this is her world, im just playing in her sandbox.

AN: i have been an avid reader of fanfiction for over a decade and have published another fic under another account name but that was abandoned years ago. this is something that has been bouncing around in my head and finally found its way here. constructive criticism is welcome. honestly so are flames as long as it is something about the writing and not something that i cant fix. i am only human after all. This work is being written as it is posted so if there is anyone who has ideas feel free to share. i will work in ideas and give credit where it is due. my old username is potterp and the abandoned story is the only one by that author.

**Harry Potter and The Staff of Eternity**

**Chapter one**

"Bow to Death, Harry." Said Voldemort with a sadistic smile.

Harry held his head high and his back straight. "I'll never bow to you. You murdered my family and made my life Hell." He spat at the ghostly pale, slit-nosed creature standing in front of him. Voldemort was playing games and trying g to humiliate him in front of the Death Eaters that had returned when their master had called through the mark that linked them to him.

"Such bravado from a boy about to die like his fool of a father. Your parents should have just let me kill you that Halloween night. They would still be alive if they had." Voldemort shot back with a curse of a sickly yellow-green color.

Harry dove to the side out of pure instinct. He hadn't even seen the Dark Lord's wand move he cast the spell so quickly. Rolling to his feet he shot back a bludgeoning spell followed by two cutting curses.

Voldemort wasn't the most feared Dark Lord in half a century for nothing, however. He deflected the bludgeoner back at harry with a flick of his bone-white wand and side-stepped the schoolyard cutters as if they were moving in slow motion. "you must do better than that, _boy_!" Voldemort mocked, laughing as he did.

Harry used a protego shield to block the reflected curse and gritted his teeth in anger, he hated that moniker more than any other due to his time with the Dursleys. In his anger he started using spells he had only read about in his nighttime visits to the restricted section of the Hogwarts library while researching spells for the tournament.

"_defracto, expulso, hastam sanguinarus!" _Harry shouted the incantations for the bone-breaking curse, exploding curse, and the blood spear. He had read about these curses and never thought he would use them for any reason. The first two were deadly if they hit the right spot, but the third, the blood spear was dark magic. It used spilled blood to send a javelin of blood at the target.

If Voldemort was at all surprised, he didn't show it but responded with a swift salvo of inaudible blood spears of his own. "Let me show you how to use that spell correctly, young Harry." He said with a sinister smirk and didn't let up, shooting one scarlet, jagged spear after another.

Harry tried to shield at first but quickly realized this was a mistake as the first spear went through his shield as easily as if it were not there at all, grazing his cheek and ear, making his face feel as if it was on fire. After that it was all he could do just to keep moving as to avoid the deadly magic.

Eventually, after what seemed like hours running and diving, he found himself pinned behind the tombstone he had been tied to not ten minutes ago while Voldemort taunted him.

"Oh, is that all you have in you young Potter? At least your parents put up a fight! What would they say, I wonder, knowing their son could do no more than run away like a kicked dog with his tail between his legs, eh? That he was a sniveling coward who hid and waited for me to come and end his miserable existence! What would they say to that?" Voldemort cackled maniacally, some insanity seeping into the laugh.

Harry felt something in him break at those words. He felt anger and hatred as he had never felt before. He found himself standing and walking from behind the Tom Riddle Sr.'s grave and started firing spells he didn't even know he knew at the insane Dark Lord. It was as if his wand was casting of its own accord in response to his rage. There were a large array of different spells leaving his wand and from their colors and the feel of the magic as it left him, they were all extremely dark magic but he didn't care as long as he took the abomination in front of him to the grave with him.

Voldemort seemed to not expect this reaction as he dodged and weaved with inhuman speed and dexterity. "Enough games, you will die today, Potter! _Avada Kedavra!" _he spat, trying to end the duel before this could continue any longer.

Harry dove behind another tombstone to dodge the green light of death. The tombstone exploded violently, sending him sprawling. Somehow, he had managed to keep hold of his wand and quickly sprung to his feet shouting, "_Reducto!", _just as Voldemort sent another Killing Curse at him.

The two spells met in mid-air and a golden thread-like connection formed between the two brother wands and a golden dome expanded from a ball of light where the spells met and formed a gilded cage, trapping the two adversaries inside. Harry swore he could hear Fawkes singing but the phoenix was nowhere near here.

"What are you doing potter!? What is this?" Voldemort exclaimed. Harry paid his words no mind as he noticed the ball between them slowly moving towards himself and his wand started to vibrate. On instinct he pushed magic into the connection through his wand and the ball moved away from him towards the Dark Lord.

As Voldemort realized what was happening it became a battle of wills. A battle that harry was confident he could win after being able to throw off Voldemort's Imperious curse. Both of them were struggling to keep the ball away from themselves and send it into the wand of their opponent. Voldemort seemed to be becoming fearful as harry pushed the ball towards him. "you will not win potter! I am the descendant of the great Salazar Slytherin!" Voldemort screamed.

Harry laughed "you are nothing more than the bastard son of a muggle. You have never once been able to best me any of the three other times we have met, and you wont now!" harry yelled, and with a will he did not expect to have, he pushed the ball of light into Voldemort's wand.

There was an awful chorus of screams and then something odd happened. Something squeezed its way out of Voldemort's wand. It was Cedric…or at least it looked like him, but it was wrong. This Cedric was not unlike a ghost but he wasn't pearly white like the Hogwarts ghosts, he was a smoky grey. If harry had to call him something, it would be a shade.

The shade of Cedric looked from Voldemort to Harry and said to Harry "Hold on a little longer, Harry, there are more coming." Sure enough, there were three more shades left to appear. There was a woman who Harry didn't know and an old man who seemed to be a muggle. However, it was the final two shades that surprised him so much that he almost broke the connection between his and Snake-Face's wand. His parents fell out of Tom's wand and came to him with smiles on their Faces.

"Harry, we do not have much time. We will distract him so you may escape. We are so proud of you, my son. As soon as you can go to Gringotts and ask for Jaggedclaw. He is the Potter family account manager, as the last male potter there are thing you must know and privileges that the last of the bloodline has access to upon reaching fifteen years old. Remember that we love you, Son." James's shade said to him with a ghostly smile.

"Harry when you go to speak with Jaggedclaw make sure you ask him about the bank account in the muggle world I had him set up discreetly just in case something happened to us. Your father is right, we are prouder of you than you could ever know. Keep learning everything you can to help you against this monster and his stooges." Lily said.

Harry couldn't seem to form words around the golf ball sized lump in his throat so he just nodded and did everything he could to hold back his tears; he would not cry in front of Voldemort and give him the satisfaction if seeing his weakness.

"Harry, try to take my body with you back to Hogwarts. Just don't get yourself killed trying." Cedric said to him with a smile.

"Harry go now!" His father said as all of the shades crowded Voldemort and obstructed his vision.

Harry jerked his wand up and broke the connection. As soon as he did the dome vanished and the phoenix song stopped. Not wasting any time, he started running towards Cedric's body.

The Death Eaters and weren't sitting idle either, they began throwing curses at him as he ran. It was raining multicolored lights and destruction around him. He heard Voldemort yelling at his minions, "do not kill Potter! He is mine!" he jumped behind a gravestone just in time to watch a killing curse shoot through the space he had just vacated. "It seems I won't kill you by just shooting spells at you, little Potter. Fine then, just remember, you refused to die easily!"

Harry heard Voldemort start chanting in a language harry didn't understand. There was a surge of magic that seemed to sink into the ground and Harry's gut told him to move quickly and get out of this place of nightmares.

Without thinking twice about it, he broke cover and ran to Cedric's body and threw himself on top of the cooling corpse of his friend, for they had become friends during this hell of a tournament. He quickly summoned the cup to himself praying that it wasn't only a one-off portkey. He deftly caught it by the handle and…nothing. No jerk behind his navel, no vomit inducing spinning, nothing! '_Bloody fuck, what am I going to do now!?' _Harry thought frantically.

In the same moment harry realized he wasn't leaving the same way he had arrived, harry felt an excruciating pain in his left arm around the spot Wormtail had taken his blood for the ritual. Looking down he saw that Cedric's body was moving. He had bitten his arm near the cut and was attempting to rip a chunk out of his forearm!

Harry jumped to his feet and used a knockback jinx to get this Zombie-Cedric off of him. The animated body of his friend was propelled into a headstone and blood spattered the granite. Breathing heavily harry looked at the bloody mess that was now his forearm and saw he was bleeding profusely. Not knowing what else to do he used a quick "_Incendio_!" to cauterize the wound that had been inflicted by the zombie-Cedric.

Suddenly harry was grabbed around his ankles by hands that had come out of the grave he was standing on. Well, now he knew what Voldemort's chanting had been about. Bodies were rising from the dirt everywhere he looked and the non-Cedric was getting back to his feet. Harry used a cutting curse to free himself from the hands of dead flesh and ran for all he was worth, trying to reach some form of safety.

"you will not escape me, Potter! I will end your life today and then no one shall stand against me!" Voldemort cackled darkly.

"stop deluding yourself Tommy-boy! You will never be able to best Dumbledore! He is the greatest sorcerer of this century and you know it." Harry shouted as he ran. He would not die quietly if death was what fate had planned for him.

"Keep telling yourself that if it is what makes you accept the end of your life!" Voldemort said, smirking

"you know, Tom, your obsession with me is rather unsettling. I am a fourteen-year-old, after all. It is kind of creepy!" harry shouted as he did all he could to get under the older wizard's skin while using any spells that came to mind to keep the reanimated corpses away, "Dumbledore will find you and end your campaign before it starts!"

Suddenly there was a flash of fire above harry and he heard phoenix song, "_of course! Fawkes! He must have come because of me defending Dumbledore!" _he thought with relief.

"So, this is what the Old Fool sends his great protector? A glorified songbird?!" Voldemort laughed maniacally, unknowingly echoing the diary-Riddle from the chamber in Harrys second year. "you will still die here, Boy, and I will be rid of you forever!"

Harry was being backed against a wall of a mausoleum by the dead puppets of the Dark Lord. Without really thinking he shot a gout of fire from his wand and set fire to several of the zombies in front of him, and, to his surprise the others shrunk away from the flames. He pushed more magic into the spell and the torrent of flames doubled in size and washed over the zombies, reducing many to ash.

Fawkes saw this and dove right at him with angry shriek and batted a curse with his wing that harry had not seen headed his way. As soon an this was done, he hovered over his head and shook his long tail feathers expectantly.

Harry wasted no time in grabbing hold of the golden lifeline and felt heat suffuse his being, but not in a painful way. It was almost…protective. And the next thing he knew the graveyard, Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and the zombies were gone. So was Cedric's body however, and harry felt guilty at not being able to take it back to his parents.

Fawkes appeared with harry in the quidditch pitch in a ball of fire amidst screams and shouts. Harry looked around frantically and saw Dumbledore running toward him. "Voldemort! He's back!" he shouted and darkness engulfed him and he knew no more.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: if you recognize it i don't own it**

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry about the wait. and the short new chapter. I had a setback on Saturday 1/8/2020. I got home from work just in time to watch my home go up in flames. I was able to save one of my pets but lost the other three as I couldn't get to them in time. This last week has been hellish. dont worry, i wont be abandoning this story. Anyway, enough of my belly-aching, let's get to what y'all came here for! Oh, before I go any farther I need to send a shout out to Smutley Do-Wrong for the awesome review! **

**Would you guys like longer or shorter chapters? Let me know in the reviews!**

**Harry Potter and The Staff of Eternity **

**Chapter 2**

Harry awoke to the feeling of floating and the sound of a door slamming shut. '_maybe I'm being taken to the hospital wing.' _He thought. The feeling of floating abruptly stopped as whoever had been levitating him let him fall unceremoniously to the floor. '_Well that rules out the hospital wing. 'Madam Pomfrey would never drop a patient like that.' _

Looking around the room he now found himself in, Harry recognized the room as Moody's office as there were dark detectors everywhere. He tried to get up and found all he could move was his head.

"Awake are you, boy?" he heard a voice from somewhere to what would have been behind him if he had been standing. As it was, he couldn't turn his head to see who he knew to be Moody and tried in vain to struggle against the body bind he had awoken in. "Don't bother. You won't be able to escape." Moody said gruffly.

"Why are-" Harry started but was cut off by the gnarled Professor

"What happened? Moody asked him urgently. "in the graveyard, what happened? Did the cowardly scum return when he called? Did he punish the fools?"

"why am I in your office Professor? Shouldn't I be in the hospital wing?" Harry asked, trying to stall the man in front of him to come up with some sort of plan. He knew he hadn't said anything about a graveyard to anyone. He also had a rather large hunch that this was not the real Moody.

"No, boy, you will not be seeing the nurse today. Or anyone for that matter. The Dark Lord will reward me beyond imagining when I bring him your corpse." The imposter rambled "Today, Harry Potter, today you die. He said raising his wand. _Avada Kadavr_\- "Fake-Moody started to utter the words that would end Harry's life when the door to the office exploded into spear-like projectiles hurtling into the office and laying waste to anything that could be impaled. In the doorway stood Dumbledore. Magic was swirling around the Headmaster in a visible vortex of power. This was not the grandfatherly headmaster he was used to, no, this was the man who had defeated Grindelwald. Coming in closely behind him wands drawn were the heads of house and no less than 10 Aurors

The imposter was skewered by no less than four impromptu spears and fell where he stood. One of the shards was protruding from the back of his neck. Harry felt an immense pain in his leg and realized he had not escaped the explosion of the door unscathed as he had a rather long shard sticking out of his leg just above the knee.

One of the Aurors rushed to Harry and smiled at him, "Auror Medic Jones, Mr. Potter, ill have you right as rain in two shakes of a krups tail." He said and cast some diagnostic spells and what harry guessed was a numbing spell as his leg stopped throbbing. With a deft pulling twirl and a chanted spell too quiet for Harry to hear, the shard of office door was extracted and the wound mended seamlessly other than the new skin being a little pinker than before. "That should do it. You should be able to walk okay now. I'm not saying you will be running laps or dueling anytime soon but you should be fine walking around. Just remember to make sure you sit down if it starts to hurt." He said to Harry with a grin.

Harry laughed, "Mate if Madam Pomfrey lets me out of bed before this finishes healing, I will eat my Firebolt."

Jones chuckled, probably remembering his own time spent in her care, but was cut off when Dumbledore came over to them. "Harry, are you alright?" he asked, twinkling blue eyes looking concernedly at harry.

"Sir, Voldemort is back! The cup was a portkey! He turned it into a portkey!" he exclaimed gesturing to the fake moody who, when the looked up at him, started changing. His wooden leg popped off and rolled away and his leg regrew from a stump and a proper eye took the place of the electric blue one. He seemed to de-age before their eyes and before long there was a rail-thin man laying where Moody had been not thirty seconds before. He had straw colored hair and freckles. He had watched this man sentenced to Azkaban by his own father.

Barty Crouch Jr laid on the floor in front of them, "Sir, is he dead?" Harry asked

"No, my boy, he will live. The door pieces did not do anything irreversible. Hopefully we can glean some information from him, but for now we must get you to Poppy. She will no doubt have your bed ready for your impending stay." And with that Harry was led to the hospital wing by Professor McGonagall.

As they entered the Matrons den Poppy Pomfrey descended on him and all but forced him into a bed. "Mister Potter I have no idea how you manage to land yourself in here every year at least once! Just one year I would like to say that I haven't had you as a patient." She clucked at him as she blanketed him in diagnostic charms and muttered to herself as she figured out what was wrong with her patient this time, "Dark Magic residue is off the charts, there is evidence of Auror healing spells, bitten by the Acromantula in the maze but it seems to have been magically healed but not with a wand. It seems like his own magic healed it to better help him to escape, severe magical exhaustion, laceration on inner left forearm that is pulsing with dark ritual magic. Small injuries sustained from impacts of some sort, and the scar is inflamed and seems to be resonating with the same magical signature as the laceration on the arm."

With a wave of her wand, at least seven potion vials came soaring over to the bedside table and hovered there, ready for her use. Flicking her wand again four of them floated to Harry. "Drink those Mr. Potter, they will help you stave off any lasting negative effect from the ritual, as well as help restore your magical reserves a bit faster, treat you for shock, and finally a pepper-up potion as the headmaster has expressed that he is to speak to you immediately after I was done." She told him. "I will return when you are finished talking." She said and walked to Dumbledore with a glare that would set a dragon running scared. "Albus, you better not overexcite him; he needs rest right now." She said and stalked off to check on a bed where the patient was restrained. Harry guessed that was Crouch Jr.

The Headmaster approached Harry with a kind smile, "She is right you know," he said with a chuckle, "this has been every year so far that you wind up in this very bed. I think Poppy may reserve it for you as your own." The aged sorcerer said and then grew serious, "Harry I need you to tell me exactly what happened when that portkey activated and everything that followed." He said as he pulled out a small intricate looking silver device and put it on the table. After carefully setting it down he tapped it with his wand and it started emitting puffs of white smoke periodically. "Harry, we must capitalize on this victory, however small."

"Sir, what victory? He still returned and he used my blood to do it!" Harry asked

"My boy, first of all, you got away. Do you think he intended that? Even now I have some old acquaintances coming out of retirement to help us prepare and to help in this time of great Darkness. Another thing I suspect that may not work out as Tom hopes is the using of your blood in that ritual." Dumbledore said with a twinkling eye.

"But he could touch me, sir, Voldemort could never do that before!" Harry said, getting a little frantic at the end, but calmed down when he saw Madam Pomfrey looking their way.

"Harry, I have been researching what happened that night and what I suspect so far is that when Lily gave her life willingly to save yours she was fulfilling the requirement of an Ancient Magic ritual that I have recently found that, from my findings, could theoretically block any magic from a specific source. This includes the Killing Curse. I think Tom thought he would benefit from using your blood, your blood has that protection still and he may be able to touch you now but what consequence will he suffer from using tainted blood."

"I don't know, he didn't seem to be exactly crippled while he toyed with me." Harry said skeptically.

"It may not happen right away, but I am willing to bet that something will happen that Tom did not account for. Ritual Magic needs to be exact, if not, the effects can be rather gruesome." Dumbledore said.

"Sir, why does he keep coming after me? I mean, what makes me different from anyone else?" Harry asked, looking up at Dumbledore beseechingly. "I just want to be a normal teenager! I don't want to fight dark lords, and basilisks, or compete in tournaments! I want to have a girlfriend and go on dates and things like that!" He exclaimed

Dumbledore suddenly seemed to look his age, every line and wrinkle seemed to stand out more. He seemed to be thinking about something for a moment before he looked at Harry, "I remember you asked me that very question at the end of your first year and I told you I would tell you when you were older. Alas, here we are again, and I find that while you are not that much older physically, emotionally and mentally you have grown more in four years than most do in a lifetime. It saddens me that I must be the one to tell you that you still have much to go through, even before you come of age, because Tom wants you under his wand." The old Mage sighed, "I cannot, in good conscience keep this from you any longer, Harry. About a year before you were born, there was a prophesy made about a child who would be born with the power to battle the darkness and bring an end to Toms terror, however one of his Death Eaters was discovered eavesdropping and expelled from the building. They only heard part of the prophesy, however."

Harry looked stunned for a moment before coming back to himself, "Prophesies are real?" Harry asked Dumbledore "Wait, sir, if there is a prophesy then that means that at some point or another Voldemort and I will have to have it out for real. How can I stand up to him? He is so much stronger than I am, and he knows magic I can't even imagine. Not to mention he has at least fifty years on me in experience. How can I compete with him?" Harry asked Dumbledore, almost desperately.

"My boy, there are many ways to interpret a prophesy. The wording is not clear cut and most of the time you cannot know what a part of it truly means until it has been fulfilled."

"So, he knows part of the prophesy and we don't? That's a great start." Harry said a little sarcastically.

"Actually, on that we are better off than tom as I was the one who heard the prophecy in its entirety when it was given. When you are allowed to get out of bed we will go to my office and I will show you." Dumbledore said and seemed to make a choice at that moment. "Harry, I was going to wait until after your O.W.L.'s but in light of recent events I must do this sooner than I planned as well. I would like to take you on as my apprentice. What do you think, my boy?" Dumbledore asked him with a critical eye.

Harry thought for a moment, "Sir, are you joking? I couldn't-I mean w-wouldn't you want someone stronger, magically, than me? You know, more studious like Hermione? She knows loads more magic than I do!" he said

"Harry, while Miss Granger may have an eidetic memory and can remember every spell she can read about that does not equate to magical prowess. You have an instinctive grasp with magic that, with training, you may surprise yourself. As to how powerful you do not think you are, think on this; last year you conjured a fully corporeal Patronus strong enough to drive off more than two hundred Dementors. That is no small feat. At thirteen I was not that powerful. I could not even conjure a silver mist shield, let alone a corporeal Patronus, at that age. You have the makings to be an incredibly powerful wizard, Harry." Dumbledore said as Harry began to lose the battle with his exhaustion and yawned widely into his hand. "I think I will leave our discussion here for now. Madam Pomfrey will accuse me of keeping you from resting and I would rather not incur her ire. Think everything over and we will discuss things further. For now, rest and heal." Dumbledore told him and made his way out the door. As he passed Crouch Jr., he waved his wand at the restrained Death Eater and a shimmering bubble expanded over him and then seemed to disappear. He looked at Harry and winked, "Just a proximity ward that will let no one but myself and Poppy close to him. We wouldn't want anything accidentally befalling our prisoner after all." And with that he walked out and shut the doors which glowed red briefly.

Madam Pomfrey wasted no time I'm coming over to him. "Alright, the headmaster is gone and it is time you took you potions and went to sleep so you can properly heal." She said handing him one revolting looking potion and then pulled one out that was electric blue and that one didn't taste as bad as he expected. Before he could express his surprise, his head hit the pillow and he was down for the count thanks to the dreamless sleeping potion.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: if you recognize it i don't own it**_

_**A/N 1:**_ Hey there guys! sorry for the wait but here you go! this isnt a very eventful chapter but with everything going on at the moment its the only version i havent scrapped. since i didnt really get an answer about chapter length this one is about the same as the last 2. I'm glad to be writing again and even gladder to be back in the mountains and out of the flatlands! For those who don't know I am from Florida and moved to North Carolina. Anyway enough of my prattling! Here you go!

_**Harry Potter and The Staff of Eternity**_

_**Chapter 3**_

Dumbledore was conflicted. He cared for Harry deeply, as if he were his own blood, yet, he had been raising him like a lamb to slaughter by keeping him secluded in Surrey during the summers. That had to come to an end if he was to take the boy as his apprentice. Truth be told, he only kept Harry at his aunt's residence for the blood wards. The fact that those wards were almost nonexistent spoke volumes about the boy- no, Harry's living conditions.

Deciding to make some proactive changes the old mage went to his fireplace and threw in some floo powder "Minerva McGonagall!" he spoke into the emerald flames.

"Yes Albus, what can I do for you?" she asked shifting her tartan dressing gown to make sure she was properly covered.

"I apologize for the late hour Minerva, but I must ask you to come through so we may discuss some items of the utmost importance." he said and disconnected the floo call before she could respond.

After only a few moments Minerva came through dressed in her normal professors robes rather than appearing as she had just rolled out of bed. "What is this about Albus? What did Potter do now? He is still in Poppy's grasp if I am not mistaken and she would sooner secure him to the bed than allow and tomfoolery in her ward." The old Scot said with a smirk.

"Ah, Minerva! Thank you for coming so quickly!" Albus said cheerfully before getting serious. "Young Harry has not done anything to land him in trouble, at least not in school as it were." He said with a small smile thinking how right she was about Poppy. "No, I have called you here to discuss possibly arranging a different home for Harry. It has come to my attention that the ward around Private Drive are so weak as to almost not exist. They would offer no protection if Tom decided to show up there personally. Also it would be difficult to imagine the Dursleys peacfully allowing me to train him as my apprentice during the summer as would be required to bring him up to snuff." Albus told her from behind his desk meeting her eyes over steepled fingers.

Minerva was shocked to say the least. This was not a conversation that she thought Albus would pull her from her bed to have, but given recent events she supposed it wasnt that far fetched after all. She collected her thoughts for a moment before speaking. There was one thing she had not expected though. "Albus, did I hear correctly? You actually intend to take the boy as your apprentice? Is that wise? In classes he is average except for his Defense Against the Dark Arts scores." She said thoughtfully. "I approve of him leaving those horrid muggles, though. If it is my opinion you seek on that then I would say that I am unsure of where to place him, perhaps here, at Hogwarts?" She wondered aloud.

"I have an idea of where to place him but we must await the arrival of one more to this meeting before we can continue on that subject." the old man said, "As for the matter of his apprenticeship, I thing he will excel with me. You see Minerva, I have noticed that Harry does not perform to the best of his abilities in classes but I believe that to be because of some reason at 'home' if you will. I will not accept anything less that his absolute best as I will be working with him directly, where his class schedule permits during the school year, of course. I wanted to discuss with you the possibility of teaching him the animagus transormation and how we will work his timetable next year with what I have planned for him."

Minerva stared blankly at her boss, "Albus, do you honestly think he is ready for that? The animagus transformation is very advanced magic, after all." she said incredulously.

"Ah, so is the Patronus Charm, and he has been able to cast a corporeal patronus for over a year now. When I was thirteen I could not even form the mist sheild." he told a stunned Head of House. "Actually, when his magic matures fully, I would say that he will far outstrip my abilities with the proper training. Training I intend to give him." At that moment they were interupted by a short rapping on the door. "Enter!" said Albus.

The door opened to reveal Sirius standing there looking rather wild, if one were being honest. "albus is it true? Is Voldemort back? Where is harry? Where is my godson Albus?!" Sirius asked rapid fire as he walked into the room, building a head of steam with every step.

"Sirius, my boy! Sit down and I shall explain everything I can at the moment." Sirius looked for a moment as if here going to refuse but seemed to think better of it and took the proffered chair opposite the Headmaster. "Now, Yes, it is true that Voldemort has returned to a body once more. Young Mr Potter is sleeping peacefully in the care of Madam Pomphrey as we speak. The reason I have called you here is to talk about his future living arrangements and what that will entail. We need somewhere that is adequately protected but where he will feel at home and free to be himself. The only place I can think of offhand is Grimmauld Place-"

"No! He will not be staying in that place! Who knows what my mother did to it before she died!" Sirius cut the headmaster off at that, deciding to vent a little of his ire at the aged wizard. "You are the Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot and the Chief Warlock of the ICW. I know you could have gotten me a trial whenever you wanted as you knew for a fact that I never even got one! I will answer any questions you want under veritaserum to prove my innocence so we can move on with the important things like, I don't know, I deranged dark wizard that wants to kill my kid!" Sirius said with arms crossed. "you get the ball rolling on that and leave the matter of where we will be living to me, I have a few ideas for that." sirus said and walked out of the office without saying another word.

Minerva sniffed testily, "That could have gone better Albus." the aging witch said, "why did you not make him stay and hear you out?" she questioned

"I know exactly where he is going, my Dear. He wants to make sure Harry is indeed sleeping safely as I told him. That is his first and only priority, as it should be. I am glad to see Sirius..well, serious about something, it shows how much he has changed since his youth."

"Albus, is what he said about not having a trial true? Was he really just chucked into a cell to rot? Why did you not help him Albus?" Minerva asked

for once Albus Dumbledore looked every bit of his one hundred thirty eight years as he responded, "I believed that he had betrayed the Potters and killed Peter like everyone else. Had I thought about it more I would have realized that was impossible because of his oath as godfather. It was my fault that he spent almost half his life in that prison, a fault I intent to make right. Now, onto Harry's timetable." he said with a sigh.

Sirius Black was not a happy dog as he ran on padded feet through the castle to the hospital wing, his mind only on his charge, thinking in the shortened, simpler thoughts of Padfoot. _'Gotta get to Pup. Keep him safe. Will protect Pup.' _as he reached the doors to the hospital wing his hands had barely formed thumbs he was opening the doors so quickly. "Harry!" he almost yelled upon seeing his bandaged Godson.

At the sudden shout Poppy came out wand ready to expel whomever was making such noise in her ward at this hour but stopped dead in her tracks as she saw Sirius standing there looking horrified at the state Harry was in. However, she looked at him and her years of medical experience kicked in "Sirius Orion Black, you will be quiet in my hospital lest you wake my patients! You will also place yourself in the bed next to Potter and let me fix whatever it is you have done to yourself gallivanting around running from dementors for the last two years!" she said adamantly while shoving him towards the aforementioned bed and casting several diagnostic charms on him and murmuring the results to herself. "severe malnutrition, several broken and haphazardly repaired bones, slight dehydration, lime disease...what are you a dog?" she trailed off at the sound of his bark like laugh and glared at him.

Sirius sheepishly grinned at her, thinking back to when he, Prongs, and the Rat were learning how to become their animal selves...and getting stuck..a lot. Well, one of them more than the others. "Sorry Poppy, I forgot how many times you helped us back in school. I have actually spent a lot of the last couple years since I escaped that hellhole, and even most of the time I was in there, as a dog so that is probably where I got the lime disease." he said, still smiling.

"Here, drink these, They will sort you out. I will be setting you on a regimen of nutrient potions once a day for two months, to be taken with a meal. Make sure you take it with a meal otherwise it could harm your liver." she told him sternly then relaxed. "I know you will not be harming Potter, I was there when you swore your oath as godfather. Rest assured that I will not let any harm befall you in my care." she said with a pointed look, "Oh, and do be a dear and stay in your human form, Sirius, those potions aren't meant for dogs." She said earning another bark of laughter from Sirius. She then returned to her chambers for some much needed rest.

Sirius stared after Poppy then giving a long look at Harry's unconscious form, and sighed. The Marauder wanted nothing more than to transform into Padfoot and lay next to his Godson but the Poppy was right as usual. He tuned on his side to face Harry's bed while laying down and closed his eyes to sleep, releasing another sigh, thinking how nice it was to be in a bed.

"Sirius?" came a groggy voice from Harry's bed, the noise must have woken him "You have lime disease?" he asked with a tired chuckle.

He was ecstatic to know that Harry was feeling ok enough to joke. "I did tell you the fleas were murder, didn't I? Go back to sleep, Pup. I'll still be around in the morning." he said, knowing that harry needed sleep now.

A/N 2: Hey there guys! i know i kinda ghosted you but im back! This year has been utterly crap as I am sure you all know just as well as I do. i would have updated sooner but since the last chapter I have been going through it. Had to go home to Florida to get my mom's affairs in order while making sure the family doesn't kill each other while pursuing a lawsuit the skilled nursing facility she lived in for the last year sorta made me lose track of myself and everything else, haha. This one fought me the whole way but here it is!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: if you recognize it it probably isn't mine.**

**A/N: Hey there my fellow Potterheads! here is another installment of my attempt at a fanfic. As usual feedback is appreciated as long as it is civil.  
**

_**Harry Potter and The Staff of Eternity**_

_**Chapter 4**_

The first thing Harry noticed was the dull ache in his arm and the side of his face and ear. The next was sterile smell and crisp sheets of the hospital wing. Then every thing came back to him in a torrent of fear and pain, but there was one thing that he hoped was true as the memory felt almost dreamlike...something about Sirius having lyme disease. He sat bolt upright, grimacing as his head swam from the swift movement and his body protested the action. "Sirius?" he asked not really expecting an answer. The bed next to his looked as it had when he went to sleep. Empty.

"What's up Pup? Good nap?" Sirius said from the chair on his other side. "gave me a right good scare, Kid. How are you feeling?" he asked

Harry groaned and lay back down, "Honestly? I feel like I got hit by the Knight Bus! The side of my head and my face hurt, and so does my arm where-" Harry stopped, unable to finish the sentence.

"Harry there is something you should know. Wounds caused by Dark Magic don't exactly respond to healing spells like wounds from normal spells or everyday mishaps." Sirius said with a slight frown. "What this means is that there will always be some kind of scar left."

Harry sighed, "Whats the damage?" he asked resignedly. People already stared, what was one more scar to his growing collection?

Sirius took a small mirror from his pocket, tapped it with his wand to enlarge it, and put it in Harry's non-bandaged hand. Harry looked at his face. There was a bandage on his right side of his head and the same cheek. He started to put the mirror down so he could use the hand to remove the bindings but his Dogfather beat him to it. After he was free of padding Harry inspected his new appearance.

A long scar started by the corner of his mouth and went all the way to almost the back of his head. His ear was split almost in half, however, he seemed to be able to hear just fine so he guessed the damage was merely cosmetic. He reached up and felt it, wincing as he touched the sensitive flesh. It felt, well, like an ear, just split. '_Oh well, I'm sure this is nothing compared to what Snakeface had planned'_

"Sirius how am I supposed to fight that Monster? He was toying with me like I was so insignificant!" Harry asked "I was powerless against him." he looked at Sirius with the pleading eyes of a child that has seen too much.

"I believe I may be able to help you with an answer to that, my boy." came a voice from the entrance. Dumbledore stood by the door as if he had been there the whole time. Thinking back to the mirror room in first year Harry thought he may have been. He came over and conjured a fluffy armchair with a wave of his hand. Sitting down he looked Harry directly in the eye. "How much do you remember from our conversation last night?"

"I remember you said that there was a prophecy, that you know it all and Voldy only knows part, and..err..you want me to be your apprentice." Harry rattled off almost hesitantly. After already losing consciousness a couple times everything was kind of hazy at that point. Dumbledore nodded "Sir, were you serious? Do you really want me? Why?" Harry asked.

"My Boy, Let me show you something. There is a spell that is cast on every wizard born child either at the time of their birth or soon after, it allows us to see the potential magical power of the child. You never had this done as you were born after your parents went into hiding and it is usually done at St. Mungos. In cases where the witch or wizard is already coming into their Magic, like yourself, it can also tell us how much of that potential has been realized at the time of the spell. It is easier to understand when you see it." Dumbledore said and withdrew his knotted wand. Pointing it at Harry he moved the tip in small circles "_Mana Potentias Extrendus!"_ He whispered

At first Harry didn't feel anything and was about to ask the headmaster if he was taking the mickey when he felt a warmth in his chest. The warmth spread to his whole body for a moment before becoming more intense and coalescing in front of him at a small translucent orb of green energy. The orb grew and kept growing until it was almost big enough for harry to stand in if he wished, then stopped. When it was done expanding Harry examined the orb. He noticed in the bottom it almost looked like the silver liquivapor of memories in a penseive except that it was an edritch green, not unlike the Killing Curse, he thought. The amount of his orb that was filled was almost nothing, he didn't even think it would fill a tea cup if he could measure it.

"What you are seeing now is your possible potential. Most witches and wizards are only about half of yours. Actually why don't we demonstrate with Sirius. Poppy could I ask you to lend me some assistance?"

Madam Pomfrey came around one of the curtains and performed the same spell on Sirius. Now there were two orbs. Sirius's orb was a translucent blue and about the size of a beach ball. His orb, however, was about a quarter of the way filled with indigo liquivapor. About halfway up the orb it was darker than the top half, almost like water leaving its mark on wood when it recedes. After a few moments the orbs faded and the warmth dissipated. Dumbledore continued his explanation. "As you can see, Sirius's potential is much less than your own but his realized potential is about one fourth of what it could be and about half of what it was before his imprisonment. That is what that darker part is, the power and ability he has lost."

Dumbledore was floored, even if he wasn't showing it. This was way above his expectations for what this boy could one day be. He was now determined to impart on Harry every bit of knowledge in his formidable arsenal. "Before you ask, my orb is a bit larger that Sirius's. That last time I had someone cast the spell on me was about a year before your birth and I had fully realized my own potential by then."

"So what you're saying," Harry said numbly, "is that I could be more powerful than you someday?" Harry was completely unable to grasp that concept however and it showed. He looked to Sirius for support but what he found was his godfather doing a very good impression of a fish. Apparently he was as surprised as Harry was.

"My boy, what I'm saying is that you could very well rival the founders in terms of raw magical power. There hasn't been a recorded Potential Magical Level that high in almost eight hundred years, since the time of the Battle Mages."

"Sir, what is a Battle Mage exactly?" Harry asked, although he felt he had an idea.

Sirius found his tongue at this, "Battle Mages were warriors who used dual wands or a wand and a staff. The used magic so powerful it is the stuff of legends!

Dumbledore nodded, "Indeed, if a bit vague. Harry Battle Mages, from what I have researched, could harness magic in a way that we do not comprehend to this day. It was as if they could commune with Mother Magic herself. Some accounts say they were the Protectors of Magic and Life itself. Some claim that the plague that struck Europe in the mid thirteen hundreds was the retribution of a Battle Mage whose family and loved ones had been slaughtered and burned by the muggles of that time during one of their many witch-hunts."

"But Sir, That killed millions! How are they Protectors of Life when just one can kill that many?" Harry asked, incredulously

"Harry it is just a rumor with no real proof, but lets field that question as if it were fact. Like any group of people there are no two that are exactly the same in how they perceive their call to protect some only used the healing artes and never used their powers to do harm, Battle Healers, if you will. Others had a Propensity for combat that was just unthinkable. One thing is for sure though, whenever there were Battle Mages there was a very real threat that the Magical population was under. Usually that threat came from Our muggle cousins." Dumbledore explained, "You must always remember Harry, You are the only one who can Choose what you do. Will you kill in this war we now find ourselves in? As much as I wish it were not so, you more than likely will but that does not make you a cold blooded murderer. It makes you a warrior. I know you are not one who revels in death and misery. There will come a time when you understand what I mean."

"Okay Sir, what about this prophecy? Since Snakeface knows part of it, I should know it too. Its only fair after all, I mean, he did try to kill me over it." Harry said, moving on

"Ah, that my boy, I cannot reveal to you just yet. You see, there is facet of magic called the Mind Artes. They allow one, with enough skill, to invade a person's mind. Then, they could take complete control of the victim, learn any desired information that they know, and/or destroy their consciousness entirely. This is called Legillimancy.

"In contrast to that though, there is Occlumency, the ability to defend your mind against attack or influence from outside forces. It is this that I will begin teaching you this summer."

"Summer Sir? I thought I couldn't do magic out of Hogwarts. I don't think the Dursleys-" Harry Began but was cut off by Sirius. With a savage grin he put a hand on Harry's Shoulder "Pup, you never have to go back there again. With everything that is going on now, we think it would be best if you stayed with me from now on. We will have to go to Gringotts to check on a couple of things but rest assured that is the first thing we are doing after getting off the train in London, Diagon isn't far from Kings Cross so no worries." he said, still grinning like madman.

Harry didn't know what to say. It was like all those missed Christmases just came at once! He never had to see that Place again! No more meaty fists, no more ducking skillets, no more 'Harry Hunting', No More Dursleys! He threw himself at Sirius, ignoring the pain from sore muscles and a throb from his left arm which took his thoughts to something else, "So if I have a scar on my face that will never go away from just Dark Magic, what about my arm and the Black Ritual Magic?" Harry asked hesitantly.

That one was fielded by Madam Pomfrey. "Similar to Dark Magic, Potter, Black Ritual Magic will leave a permanent mark. Unlike Dark Magic, which just marks the user's soul, this mark is unique to the Ritual and ingredients used to power it. It is not a scar but permanent all the same. I think it is okay to take those bandages off of your arm" she said with a flick of her wand the dressings were gone and Harry looked at what used to be unblemished flesh before that damn task...

What he saw mystified him. He expected a scar from the blade and maybe the bite. What he saw was anything but a scar. There on his forearm, from the crease of his elbow to the tendons just an inch short of his wrist was what looked like a tattoo. A tattoo of a serpentine dagger, the tip of the blade starting at his wrist and continuing up his arm, where the blade met the guard looked like a striking serpent. The hilt of the dagger looked like a bird, no, a phoenix in mid dive attacking the serpent. The phoenix's head and tail formed the hilt while the outstretched wings formed the guard. In other circumstances he may have found it beautiful. Right now it just made him remember the graveyard. One question entered his mind though. "Madam Pomfrey, why does it look like that?" he asked

"This is what I meant by a unique mark. I would say that the snake is obviously Voldemort. A dagger would have been used in multiple steps so it makes sense that it would form that image. The phoenix though I can only speculate on. It may have to do with the protection from Lily, or it may be that your wands share a core of brother phoenix feathers, it could also have to do with the phoenix tears that still run through your blood. There are many possibilities but like the scar on your forehead, this one will probably have some 'interesting' quality that will show itself over time. I am positive that this will not cause you any negative issues moving forward."

Harry stared at the tattoo on his arm for a few minutes in silence. He decided he wouldn't let it be a reminder of the fear he felt. He decided that he would never be a victim again no matter what he had to do. "What happens now?" he asked

"well that depends. Poppy is he fit to be discharged?" Dumbledore asked the healer.

"normally I would want to keep him for a few days but from my diagnostic spells he seems to be okay to go about daily activities as long as he doesn't overdo it." at this she gave Harry a pointed look, "that means if you get tired you sit down and rest. I don't want you making anything worse because you are stubborn as a hipogriff."

"What about classes?" Harry asked

Dumbledore's eyed twinkled and he smiled as he said, "Harry as soon as everything happened after the task the Board of Governors decided to end the year a couple weeks early so everyone will be leaving here for Kings Cross directly after breakfast. I will see you one week from tomorrow, at that point we may discuss other matters of import." he said and left the infirmary without another word.

Sirius grinned at him, "Well, Harry, let's get some food and get out of here, what do you say?"

Harry had never thought he would want to get away from Hogwarts but after this year he almost couldn't wait. "I think that is a great idea. There is just one thing bugging me. Where are we going to live? I don't think Godric's hollow is exactly livable from the stories I have heard about that night." he queried.

Sirius barked with laughter "You have seen your trust vault, right? Do you really think your parents left you with that much money but only had a cottage? You will see when we go to Gringotts, Pup, don't worry. Now, let's eat!" With another laugh he was Padfoot, barking and wagging his tail jubilantly.

* * *

_**A/N: I Know that this is starting slow guys Bear(bare?) with me on that. I promise things will pick up. the chapters will also get longer as we progress. the only thing stopping me from posting 10k word chapters is my job and its unpredictable schedule. As per the norm, if you have any ideas just let me know in a review and you may just see it in the story. you will be credited of course!**_


End file.
